


Victory

by elumish



Category: Stargate SG-1
Genre: Episode: s09e06 Beachhead, Friendship, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-08
Updated: 2015-04-08
Packaged: 2018-03-21 21:14:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 556
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3704993
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/elumish/pseuds/elumish
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Daniel was glad he wasn’t dead.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Victory

Daniel was glad he wasn’t dead.

It was a thought he had surprisingly frequently, or infrequently, given how many times he had been almost dead, and how many times he had wanted to be. When he lost Sha’re to Apophis, when she died, when he was lying in that bed dying of radiation poisoning. 

But with Vala dead, or at least gone, he didn’t want to be dead. It wasn’t that he didn’t like Vala—he did, when she wasn’t being…Vala—but that he wasn’t suicidal anymore. And besides, she would want him to live. That was what Vala wanted, more than anything else. She wanted people to live. And he might not agree with how she wanted them to live, but he recognized that she did.

“You okay?”

Daniel turned his head on the pillow to look at Sam, who was sitting next to him. He kept dozing, the energy draining from him in waves until he could barely keep his eyes open. “I’m fine. Still kind of tired, but hopefully I’ll be fine by the time we get back to Earth.” Because he didn’t think he could deal with staring at the SGC infirmary ceiling after his time staring at the Prometheus ceiling. 

Sam gave him a wry smile. “That wasn’t what I was talking about. You’ve been spending a lot of time with Vala, and I know you didn’t always get along, but—”

“I’m fine.”

“I know you feel like you have bad luck with the women in your life, that you’re somehow cursed—don’t give me that look—but…look, Daniel, she made her own decision, and she saved us.”

Exasperation sparked through him. “I’m fine, Sam. I’m not in love with Vala, I’m not going to get myself drunk mourning her death.” Though that was an idea. Unfortunately, one he couldn’t do until he got out of the infirmary. “We won. We kept them from building a supergate. We should be celebrating.”

Exhaustion hit him again, harder this time, and he struggled to keep his eyes open. Though falling asleep would get him out of the conversation, and he couldn’t say that wasn’t appealing. “Yeah. The thing is, though, that I don’t think this is the last time they’re going to attempt this. They have too much at stake not to.”

Fantastic. That was really what Daniel wanted to hear. “Can we pretend that we have at least a momentary victory? Just…I hate the Ori.” He wasn’t planning on saying that aloud, but his mouth didn’t seem to be properly connected to his brain at the moment, and words were coming out without his permission. “I know the Goa’uld used religion, but it was, at the heart of it, slavery. We can look at it and just say that it’s evil. But the Ori, they’re…they’re Gods, Sam, in the way that everyone conceives of Gods. How do you fight against that?”

There was pressure on his hand, and he looked over to see Sam’s hand holding his. “We did, Daniel. Vala did.”

“And now she’s dead.” Maybe he really was cursed. 

“We don’t know that.”

She might not, but he did. And when exhaustion swamped him again, he let himself fall asleep, because asleep he didn’t have to think about how many people had died because of him.


End file.
